Hardware features

The IBM SAN64B-6 offers the following features and capabilities:

  • Up to 48 auto-sensing ports supporting high-performance 32-Gbps SFP+ ports technology in a single domain.
  • Up to four 128-Gbps (4 x 32-Gbps) QSFP ports to connect to the QSFP ports of another IBM SAN64B-6 device.
  • Dynamic Ports on Demand (Dynamic-POD) scaling from a base configuration of 24 ports to 64 ports (two 12-port SFP+ PODs and one 16-port QSFP POD).
  • 4-, 8-, 16-, and 32-Gbps auto-sensing Fibre Channel switch and router ports.
    • A 32-Gbps optical transceiver can auto-negotiate to 32 Gbps, 16 Gbps, or 8 Gbps.
    • A 16-Gbps optical transceiver can auto-negotiate to 16 Gbps, 8 Gbps, or 4 Gbps.
    • A 10Gb/s optical transceiver can autonegotiate to 10Gb/s. 
    Note: The port speed is determined by the maximum speed supported by the optical transceiver at the other end of the link.
  • 10-Gbps manually set capability on FC ports (requires the optional 10-Gigabit FCIP/Fibre Channel license).
    • 10-Gbps performance is enabled by 10-Gbps SFP+ transceivers.
    • Ports can be configured for 10-Gbps for metro connectivity.
  • Universal ports self-configure as a E_Ports, F_Ports, M_Ports, or D_Ports. EX_Ports can be activated on a per-port basis with the optional Integrated Routing license.
    • A Diagnostic Port (D_Port) provides diagnostics, troubleshooting, and verification services for the physical media.
  • The following table lists the number of ports that can be enabled with compression and encryption.
    Port Speed Encryption Only Compression Only Compression and Encryption
    32Gb/s 4 ports 4 ports 4 ports
    16Gb/s 4 ports 4 ports 4 ports
    10Gb/s 4 ports 4 ports 4 ports
    8Gb/s 4 ports 4 ports 4 ports
    4Gb/s 4 ports 4 ports 4 ports

    Refer to the Fabric OS Administration Guide, 9.0.x, for details on this table.

  • Support for port-side exhaust or nonport-side exhaust airflow for cooling.
  • Hardware-enabled input and output (I/O) latency statistics collection.
  • Hardware-enabled VM support.
  • Small form-factor pluggable plus (SFP+) optical transceivers support any combination of Short Wavelength (SWL), Long Wavelength (LWL), or Extended Long Wavelength (ELWL) optical media among the switch ports.
  • Extended distance Fibre Channel to support long-distance native FC connectivity.
  • 10Gb/s Fibre Channel integration on any selected port provides DWDM metro connectivity on the same switch.
  • Port-to-port latency minimized to the following by using cut-through frame switching at 32Gb/s.
    • Version 1 = 780ns (including FEC)
    • Version 2 = 560ns i(ncluding FEC)
  • High performance T1022 processor with two cores operating at 1.2 GHz delivers high performance, scalability, and advanced Fabric Vision functionality.
  • One 1000/100/10Mb/s RJ-45 connector for the Ethernet management connection. In conjunction with EZSwitchSetup, this port supports switch IP address discovery and configuration, eliminating the need to attach a serial cable to configure the switch IP address.
  • One internal e-USB module provides 2 GB of persistent storage, increased serviceability, and error logging functionality by facilitating easier firmware upgrades and downloads of the system log files.
  • One external USB connector.
  • Two hot-swappable redundant integrated power supply and fan assembly field-replaceable units.
  • 48 hot-pluggable SFP+ optical transceiver slots and 4 hot-pluggable QSFP optical transceiver slots.
  • 52 bicolor (green/amber) LEDs to indicate the status for each port (one per SFP+ and one for each QSFP slot). (In the G620 Version 2, the QSFP LEDs are tri-color.)
  • One green LED to indicate valid system power.
  • One bicolor (green/amber) LED to indicate the system status.
  • Two Ethernet LEDs: one green LED to indicate link speed of 1000/100/10Mb/s and one green LED to indicate activity.
  • SEEPROM for switch identification.
  • Real-time power monitoring.
  • Real-time voltage monitoring.
  • Real-time fan monitoring including airflow direction.
  • Real-time digital thermometers for temperature monitoring.
  • Real-time clock (RTC) with battery.